


Responsibility

by MaddieandChimney



Series: Just Friends [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: Chimney feels guilty when he leaves Maddie alone for barely five minutes and someone has spiked her drink.
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Just Friends [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796779
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Responsibility

Chimney regrets leaving Maddie alone almost immediately when she stumbles into him. He was barely gone five minutes, the queue for the toilet being a lot longer than he would have liked. But still, she definitely hadn’t drunk enough to justify the look in her eyes right then and the way she can’t stand on her own two feet. His heart sinks, hoping it’s his anxiety that’s forcing him to jump to all the wrong conclusions until she’s practically collapsing against his body.

There’s no other logical explanation – they’d been in the bar for two hours and in that time, she’d had two glasses of wine, a sip of his beer (before proclaiming that beer was ‘gross’) and was about to get her third when he decided to go to the toilet. Definitely not enough to justify the way she slurs out his name, a confused look on her face as she does so.

A massive part of him wants to find the person who either thought it would be funny to spike her drink with, what he can only assume is GHB judging by the way she’s acting, or did so with only bad intentions. He grips onto her a little tighter at the thought, losing himself for a second until she sobs out, “Doug?” It’s enough for him to loosen his group, pushing back the feeling of guilt before he takes a deep breath and, with one more look around, to see if there’s anyone obviously looking over at them.

There’s not.

It doesn’t make him feel any better. He’s not a violent person but he’s never wanted to punch anyone more for forcing _his_ Maddie – his _friend_ Maddie – to feel vulnerable just when she had admitted to Chimney she was starting to feel as though she really could rebuild her life after Doug. Just when she was starting to believe in herself again.

“Okay, Maddie, it’s me, it’s Chimney. Howie. You’re safe and I’ve got you,” He hopes she won’t remember any of this, even if he knows he’s going to have to tell her. In the long run, there’ll be no physical damage done, she’ll wake up probably with a headache and no memory of the night before but other than that, there’s nothing long-lasting in the physical sense. He’s more worried about the mental impact it’s going to have on her, to know if Chimney hadn’t come back when he had, things could have turned out so much worse.

He tries not to imagine it, but the thought of coming back from the bathroom to Maddie nowhere to be seen keeps clawing in the back of his mind. He doesn’t think he’s hated himself more than he does in that moment, she had trusted him to protect her and he couldn’t even do that. He’d let her down, and Buck.

Buck. He’s going to have to tell her brother that he’d let her down, he’d put her unknowingly in danger and…

“D-don’t take me back.” Maddie’s grip is tightening on him and he knows he has to stay present; he has to keep his arm tightly wrapped around her as he pushes through the crowded bar and walks her towards his car. He knows what she means, but he can’t bring himself to reply – she’s feeling extremely vulnerable right then, caught up in her own head. It’ll pass, he keeps trying to tell himself, but it doesn’t help the hatred building up inside of him right then.

“Hey, Maddie, I’m going to carry you to the car, okay? You’re safe with me.” The paramedic knows the words he’s saying right then mean nothing to her, but they’re at least enough to keep him grounded when he manages to lift her with ease, holding her close to his body. Her eyes fall to a close once more, and he knows she just needs to sleep it off.

“I’m going to take you back to mine, just sleep.” He can’t help but press his lips to her forehead, easily manoeuvring himself to unlock his car the moment they are there. He can’t help but take one more look around them, just to be certain before he places her carefully in the passenger seat. “I’m sorry I let you down, I-I never wanted to let you down.”

He gulps, an attempt to hold back tears when he clicks her seatbelt into place, feeling the way his heart breaks when she whimpers and snuggles up into the warmth of the seat. When he shuts the door, he promises himself he’ll do better if she’ll ever give him another chance.

The thought that she won’t forces the lump in his throat to rise once more, as he angrily wipes at the tears stinging at his eyes, not able to shake the belief that he’s really let her down.m


End file.
